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The current study sought to establish the psychometric properties of the Cambridge Worry Scale (CWS) in early pregnancy to determine the potential clinical usefulness of the sub-scales that comprise this measure. The CWS was administered to 129 women during early pregnancy at the antenatal booking clinic. Factor analysis revealed support for the socio-medical, health, socio-economic and relationships subscale domains. The CWS sub-scales were observed to assess dimensions distinct to those of anxiety and depression.

This article examines the genesis of sexual preference. Since human beings as a species are unique in that they have a sexual orientation toward their own gender (homosexuality) as well as the opposite sex (heterosexuality), how or where this preference begins is of interest. This paper examines the research and focuses on how and why some fetuses lack male hormones at the end of pregnancy, which along with stress responses may trigger a high level of activity in the mother's adrenal glands impacting the developing child's later sexual orientation.

This article identifies an issue within the discipline of prenatal and perinatal (PPN) psychology, namely that the field currently consists of individual practitioners' modalities without empirical validation around treatment efficacy. The goal undertaken was to integrate the PPN literature related to adult psychotherapy into a coherent and practical model to serve as a guide for students and professionals that could also be empirically tested.

The emerging science of pre and perinatal psychology and developmental neuroscience suggests newborns are conscious and capable of feeling and establishing memory at birth. The science points to the potential for imprinting traumatic events at birth which may then become the foundation for future mal adaptive behavior patterns and mental illness. Pre and perinatal thought leaders are calling for new models of obstetric and neonatal care that acknowledge the consciousness and suffering of babies at the time of the trauma.

Health research suggests that personal agency plays a key role in health experiences. In this qualitative analysis of the experiences of 40 recent mothers accessing healthcare services from physicians and midwives, we found that agency is linked to democratic relationships that support women's access to and discussion of relevant health information. While most participants wanted to participate more actively in their care, problematic physician-patient communication hampered their ability to exercise personal agency.

The purpose of this study is to clarify the possession rate of fetal/infant memory in the womb and/or at birth and to validate its characteristic. A total of 1620 answered questionnaires of the 3601 distributed were returned, giving an overall recovery rate of 45.0%. The possession rates of womb and birth memory were 33.0% and 20.7%, respectively. Parents, too, responded with regard to their own memory from birth, and 1.1% appeared possessing such memory.

Obesity has become an epidemic in the United States, threatening the health of millions of Americans. President Clinton has been a major supporter of addressing the problem of obesity, especially in children. To date this condition has been challenging to both understand its origins and to treat. This article reviews the pre- and perinatal literature and related medical literature and suggests that intrauterine undernutrition (famine-like) conditions during the first trimester shows a promising area for further research to explore childhood and adult obesity.

Health from a pre- and perinatal (primal period) perspective has been mostly a theoretical construct. However, in the last 20 years, published studies have confirmed the effects of environmental factors occurring pre- and perinatally and the development of a number of diseases. These indicators point to the fact that we should continue exploring links between the date of birth (or the date of conception) and a great variety of human health conditions, such as, diseases, abnormalities, personality traits, as well as states of health.

This article explores the influence on brain development, as well as the neurological and behavioral outcomes, of the preterm and very preterm infant. It also briefly covers the influence of In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF), multiple births, gestational age, and birth weight on development as well as giving a more in depth review of literature that evaluates the impact of preterm birth and very preterm birth on brain development and neurological and behavioral outcomes.